PLYMOUTH — Is Black Friday a good day to wheel and deal for a deal on wheels?

We all know that bargain hunters are out to score deep discounts on everything from flat-screen TVs to silk pajamas the day after Thanksgiving.

But some say the dealership showroom, not the mall or big box store, is the place where those deal-crazed types should be test-driving their shopping smarts.

“Obviously it’s a major selling time for toys, sweaters, TVs and things that people traditionally look at on Black Friday, but automobile sales are some of the highest for the year on that Friday and Saturday,” said Kevin Mazzucola, executive director of East Norriton-based Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia. “People are in the mood to look for good deals and we see more families coming out to look at cars that day. And though people may not typically think of automobiles on Black Friday, it’s a strong time of year for vehicle sales as well. People are in the mood to shop and buy, and it’s toward the end of the month, which makes it a good time to come in and get a good deal. Dealers are also trying to move the 2011 models for the 2012 models that are coming. So a lot of things converge at the same time on Black Friday.”

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Bob Johnson, Volvo sales manager at Jim Wynn VW Volvo in Jeffersonville, agreed that Black Friday can often turn into a blazing red-letter day for dealerships.

“Traditionally, we see an upturn that day. I’ve been in the car business since 1979 so I’ve seen the cycles come and go. Because it’s a day a lot of people take off work. We look forward to strong sales any day, and automobile retailers, like everybody else, are look forward to offering people the best bargains possible that day since there is an upturn in traffic. Make hay when the sun shines, so to speak.”

With high hopes for the new year pinned on its Euro-inspired S60 executive sedan, Volvo is one dealership taking advantage of a if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em strategy: shoppers unable to break away from the mall this weekend will come upon a few Volvo models gleaming brightly inside the King of Prussia mall.

“It’s considered a premium to be showing your wares there because of the foot traffic in the mall,” noted Mazzucola. “It’s great exposure for manufacturers for their vehicles. They don’t sell their vehicles there, but they get them in the mind of consumers and have all the information they need right there.”

Owner Joe Orff admitted he’s one guy who loves to welcome relaxed shoppers into his recently remodeled Sport Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Jeffersonville while their bellies are still stuffed turkey and pumpkin pie.

“People are in a good mood, they’re home with their families...they come in on Friday morning and they’re ready to buy some cars,” he said, grinning. “They have the day off and have time to spend at the dealership, and they still have Saturday too. And it’s a busy day for people getting their cars serviced too.”

Car dealers also get a kind of vicarious benefit from all the advertising being pumped out by all kinds of retailers, he allowed.

“There’s a tremendous amount of advertising for shopping — any kind of shopping. People are in a buying mode. It’s a long weekend and they feel like it’s a good time to go out and look at a vehicle because. It’s the whole buying frenzy in general, with so many stores are open at midnight now. I think that does carry over into the car business. It’s toward the end of the month and Chrysler just put out some incentives that run through the end of the month to stimulate sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Plus, it’s a lot easier than it was a few years ago to get people approved for a car loan,” Orff added. “People who may have had a few issues with credit, nothing too bad, just normal things in their lives, can now get credit with a fair rate. And that’s really helping to sell cars.”

By far, the hottest set of wheels here is the mid-size SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee, the flagship of the nearly 70-year old line of Jeep vehicles.

“The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee is the nicest vehicle Chrysler’s ever made and has consistently been our best selling vehicle,” Orff noted. “Someone may come in that was looking for a Range Rover, which sells for around 70 grand, and they see our top-of-the-line Cherokee, which is around $48,000 and realize it’s a really great car for a lot less money. It’s still an expensive car, but saving thousands is something that appeals to anybody, no matter how much money they have.”

TrueCar.com and Edmunds.com, the leading authorities on new car pricing, both encourage shoppers to think about purchasing their next vehicles on Nov. 25, or throughout the Thanksgiving weekend.

Basing its predictions on an array of data from dealers and other sources, TrueCar reported earlier this month that car buyers can expect savings to average around 9.5 percent off MSRP, and even more than 20 percent depending on the model.

The least expensive vehicle making TrueCar’s top five is the 2011 Chevy Silverado. With all the stars and incentives in the right alignment, the authoritative source maintains that the price on the light pickup truck can be sticker-slashed from $22,230 to $17,370.

A longtime car salesman from Chester County, who asked not to be identified, confided that, while Black Friday weekend could attract a lot of potential buyers, it might be wise to remain cautious about just how much good the hype would benefit the shopper.

To hear him tell it, there is no iron-clad guarantee that Black Friday is necessarily the best day to land the best price on the vehicle you want.

“There are so many factors involved...the make and model, how much cash is being put down, the financing, and how much of a negotiator the buyer is,” he said. “People always need to do their research any day of the year.”

As one salesman put it, “It’s not the deal you got; it’s the deal you think you got.”

Mike Hammond, vice president of sales and marketing at award-winning Conicelli Autoplex in Conshohocken, strongly disagreed with that skepticism.

“This is absolutely the best time to buy a car,” he said. “With Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hundai, we have some of the best savings of the year. Black Friday is a great time to buy a car because it’s a big sale day for any industry. When you have people off from work and out shopping it creates excitement, and with excitement you’re going to get great deals.”

Conicelli customers can expect to benefit from those great deals until the end of year, Hammond allowed.

“Historically, in the car business we get excited on Black Friday and we incentivize here to sell volume that day. So Black Friday and Saturday will be very big selling days for Conicelli.

It’s one of our biggest weekends of the year and I expect this weekend to be our biggest selling weekend of this year, triple what a normal weekend would be for us.”

Like many dealerships, Conicelli struggled to get its inventory up to speed following the tsunami last March, Hammond noted.

“What happened in the spring with all the problems we had getting vehicles after the tsunami, our manufacturers have suffered with inventory throughout their normal selling season in summer.

But now the inventory level is back to normal and it’s time to play some catch up, and manufacturers do that by driving sales with great incentives.”

Hammond beamed when talking about the deal he was able to offer a friend of his recently.

“He’s leasing a $25,000 Toyota Rav 4 for less than $250 a month, with a three-year lease

If that’s not a good deal, I don’t know what is. Right now the deals are incredible. That car would normally be $325 or $350 a month.”

In any given month, manufacturers offer incentives based on inventory level and other conditions, Hammond noted.

“My franchises right now have a great supply of inventory, and that hasn’t been the case for a while. The 2012 Camry just came out, and that’s been the number one seller in this country for four or five years now.”

With used cars being in short supply right now, “on top of having good deals on a new car — any dealer, not just me — will be paying top dollar for trade-ins,” he added. “Our business is selling used cars and new cars. When there’s a shortage of used cars, the used car values go up.”

For the last two years, Conicelli was named the top-selling dealership in the state for new Toyotas and new Hondas.

“We’re in a race to do it again and hopefully we can pull that off again for a third year,” he said. “And for the first year ever we’re in a race to be the number one Nissan dealer in the state. If people come in for a deal they won’t find a better deal than they will from us right now ... for a multitude of reasons, but for our bragging rights especially,” he added, smiling.

“If we get a reason to get excited about selling cars, especially if you’re a high volume dealer like Conicelli, what better reason could you have than a holiday weekend like Black Friday?”